Just when the rookie-laden Banff Community High School Bears boys rugby team didn’t have enough to worry about prior to their big match against Bow Valley High School, along came a bout of food poisoning to wipe out their veteran leaders.
Missing three players to the stomach ailment, and two more veterans to injury from the previous week’s loss, the BCHS Bears dropped a 41-5 loss to their Bow Valley rivals on April 20 in Cochrane. Kazoo Prevost scored the lone try for the Bears, who were outmatched and undermanned on the day.
“It made for an interesting game,” said coach Alex Boston. “It meant some of our younger guys got to play more than they normally would.”
The Cochrane squad smelled blood in the water early on, putting up 29 points in the first half. The Bears settled down and focused on defence in the second half, and their hard work in training paid off, as they limited their opponents to two tries.
Boston said the Bears are improving immensely with every half, and said that was the biggest learning point from the Cochrane game.
“Our defence saw a 100 per cent improvement. The line was coming up flat, dead straight and it really showed in the second half,” Boston said.
Boston is optimistic the slow start is only that, and by the time the playoffs roll along, the Bears will be in top shape and ready to challenge the top teams in the province.
“Our learning curve is on such an arch, every half we play, we get better. If we continue to improve at that standard, come the last game into the finals, we will be peaking,” Boston said.
He praised the team’s offence as well, and said Prevost showed great speed in his try.
“We had a nice bit of play from our forwards, a pop pass from our prop to our backs, and Kazoo was at the wing at 100 per cent,” Boston said.
The team hopes to have more regular starters in the lineup this week when they play Springbank. The first home game falls on May 12 against Highwood High at the Banff Rec Grounds.
